A Jack-o-Lantern Mask
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: [x/over with Kakurenbo] His pride-carving suddenly turned into his nightmare.


**A/N:** This is a crossover with Kakurenbo, but not enough of one to warrant it being in the crossover section I think. So I didn't put it there. :D There isn't any pre-knowledge of that fandom required to enjoy this; Kakurenbo is just a horror anime (a very short one) on Hide and Seek, which is severely downplayed here. Players wear a mask, and losers become the light that powers the city while the previous winner leads the current players on a wild goose chase. Or that's my flash-summary at almost midnight for you all.

A Halloween fic, written for the Flt Green Room 2013's final challenge (an hour before midnight, my time), for the Halloween Pumpkin Challenge, and for the HP Crossover Boot Camp, prompt #36 – alone.

I could have written this to be horror, but I chose not to. I figured I'd save that for the more serious Kakurenbo work. Instead, this is a little lesson/punishment for a certain James Potter. Perhaps not humour in the generic sense, but I was quite amused writing and proof-reading this, so hence the genre choices. I wonder if anyone actually agrees with me on that. Oh well…

Enjoy. And Happy Halloween. Even though it's almost over here, I'm sure those of you 18 hours ahead still have a good chunk left.

* * *

**A Jack-o-Lantern Mask**

Pumpkin seeds spilled from his lap onto the floor, but James found himself paying little attention to the dots of grey. Instead, his mind was consumed with more important matters: the carving he waved his wand over again and again, muttering a string of incantations all the while as it moulded itself into a face befitting of his own…and the absence of one Lily Evans from the Great Hall.

Remus was beside him, own Jack-o-lantern complete to immaculate and yet simple detail and now resting, with a slight grimace, on the table. Sirius too was done, however his own pumpkin looked as though someone had put it through one of Peter's cauldrons. Even Peter's own looked more pleasing to the eyes, although James wasn't sure if it was _supposed_ to look as though a rat had chewed at it or if that was just an artefact of the finished product.

James was hoping his would be a little better; the Mauruders had a certain reputation to uphold after all, as did his pride. However art was a difficult thing to manage, and he found himself far more often _reversing_ his work than actually progressing in it.

Sirius clapped his shoulder, and the wand's careful movement slipped.

'Hurry it up, man,' he said. 'It doesn't have to be a Snitch-grabber, you know.'

'It _does_.' James gritted his teeth as he repaired the new damage. 'Just take a look over there.'

He jerked his head to the Slytherin table, and Sirius followers his gaze, before gagging. 'Ugh, Snivellus pie.'

But he couldn't deny that, despite the fact that the scrawny arch-nemesis of theirs was covered in pumpkin vomit (if pumpkins could vomit of course) that the Jack-o-lantern would probably get the prime place that year.

'It's such a stupid tradition anyway.' Sirius looked woefully at his own pumpkin. 'Creative I may be, but I'm afraid the line's been drawn far before this.'

Remus just shrugged; he wasn't as concerned about such petty rivalries as his friends were, and neither was Peter, simply attempting to put some finishing touches on his product. But James…James was another thing altogether; while the rivalry between Sirius and Severus had managed to run into a wall, it seemed Severus was more determined than ever to make James' life a living misery – and James would certainly not pass up the chance to return the favour.

Although all those poisonous stares from Lily were starting to take his toll on him.

Sirius was saying something again, but James shut him out, focusing on the task before him. The easier thing to do would be to just shoot a spell towards that disgusting slab of perfection – and just the sight make his stomach curl, because he could see Lily's influence all over it. But that would the way he had always done things, the way he had to _stop_, because he had his own prowess, his own capabilities, and he was proving nothing just clearing the path ahead of him.

Even if the guy did deserve to trip over his long nose, James thought darkly, shooting the Slytherin a glare before bending over his own pumpkin again. But he pushed the head of black hair out of his mind in favour of the more appealing flame of red, and he followed it, the wand flowing over his pumpkin once more as guided words nurtured it – hopefully – into a masterpiece.

He suddenly caught the red hair in the corner of his vision, and he looked up in some surprise to meet carved eyes and a forced maniacal grin. The red hair fell from behind the pumpkin head, and a flick of the wand had fitted James' own over his features, hiding the shock.

'What -?' he began.

Lily laughed. 'We're playing hide and seek,' she explained. 'Everybody who plays must wear a mask.'

'A mask?' He felt a little like a parrot, but Headmaster Dumbledore had mentioned nothing of the sort happening.

'A mask,' she repeated, running her fingers down the side of the hard orange skin. James felt a thrill at that; even if the Jack-o-lantern turned mask hid his skin from her touch, _she was still touching him! _'And now you hide.'

She gave him a light push and disappeared, leaving James foundering for balance, reaching for the Gryffindor table to hold him up. Except the table was gone, as was everybody sitting on it. And the candles that had hung from the roof of the Great Hall, enchanted to mimic the night's sky.

Indeed, the only thing that surrounded him was blackness, as though Lily had taken all the light with her when she had left.

'Lily!' he called, lightly, casually, before raising his tone. 'Lily!'

Only his own voice, echoing and shaking, answered him.

He took a step forward, and felt the crunch of pumpkin seeds beneath his feet. In the darkness, his heart thumped loudly against his ribs, even though all rationale told him that such nervousness was unnecessary. But things had changed so quickly; surely his focus wasn't _that_ great to miss such a difference in surroundings? And surely he couldn't have missed the Headmaster's booming voice declaring Halloween's sweet game begun?

But then he heard a scream, and the panting breaths he had taken to be the quiet world gave way to a true silence. His wand was still in his hand, but no incantations or wand movements forced their way to the tips to be used. Though he pointed still; perhaps his subconscious mind would accomplish something, when his conscious mind could not?

The pumpkin felt impossibly heavy on his face; indeed, sweat was starting to run down his neck as he wandered blindly around. Lily's laugh came back to him, and her words, and that scream and the strange thing he had taken to be the silent world…

If it was a game, it was a queer one. Befitting for the long abolished Triwizard Tournament perhaps, but certainly not for a Halloween party at Hogwarts, despite how strange their traditions went. Perhaps a dream then – and he wouldn't put it past Snape, who excelled in Potions and the Dark Arts if nothing else, to have had something to do with it all.

Light. The first thing he needed was some light, and finally his brain remembered the words for it. 'Lumos,' he whispered, voice echoing strangely once more.

His wand hissed in his hand, but no light arrived.

And so he stumbled further, wondering why he hadn't run into a table, or a person, or a wall. Only the sound of crunching pumpkin seeds followed, paving his way.

And then suddenly the light was back, blinding him, and Lily was back as well. 'Do you know what makes the light?' she asked, face still hidden and muffled behind her Jack-o-lantern mask. 'Them,' she answered herself, with a laugh. 'The losers of this hide and seek.' She cocked her head at him. 'You're still in, you know. You might want to keep hiding.'

And then she was gone again, and James was running in the darkness after her shadow – or where he thought she was. He admitted it freely now; this game had taken a turn for the weirder, and the lonely fear was crushing him on all sides. If only Sirius were there, then they could have laughed at the elaborate prank, or Remus to reason, or even Peter to be more frightened, so he wouldn't be scraping the barrel bottom on his own. Or Lily to either smile like in his dreams or flare into a temper like his reality –

He slowed, then stopped running, panting from exertion as the darkness closed in all around. The pumpkin head weighed him down, clinging to his face, scratching it. His hands came up to it.

'_Everyone who plays must wear a mask.'_ That was what Lily had said to him, but why? What purpose did it serve? For that matter what purpose did the darkness serve? Or Lily's words to him? She wore a mask as well; was she not a player too?

He thought he could hear someone singing in the background at the thought, but it was gone as soon as he tried to listen.

He shook his head, trying to get the hypothetical water out from between his ears. Whatever sort of game it was, he would rather concede than continue. Darkness, that was what it was. And anything darkness…well, Snape could have his victory for all he cared. The stag in him was even more discomforted at the thought of being loose in this strange world.

His pride could take the beating for his peace of mind; it weighted at him now, but he knew the moment he fell asleep the weight would become more tangible – more disturbing in his dreams.

He slipped the pumpkin head off, and it slipped from his hands. The lights suddenly flickered to life again, and Lily was back, taking off her own mask and revealing hollow eyes and an even more hollow face.

A false face, because Lily was full of life and fire and nothing like that –

His mouth opened in a silent scream as the face deformed, twisted into something monstrous, something demonic. The light grew brighter, but with it came a chill that reminded him of the Dementor tales from his crib. The evil that would sweep bad children away in the night and leave only empty shells behind.

And that gaping, teethless mouth opened, forming words he could read with ease, even if the silence crushed his ears.

'Ready or not, here I come!'

The creature that was not Lily lunged, and James fell back –

Right off his chair and onto the painfully prodding pumpkin seeds he had dropped not long ago.

Sirius, Peter and Remus all laughed as he stared, befuddled at the ceiling. Lily, who had been walking past at that moment – entirely herself, including the disgruntled expression she wore – sniffed and pressed on ahead to take the only available seat…at the end of the table, next to one Frank Longbottom. And James rubbed his head and sat up, picking out familiar faces in the crowd, then the crafted face of his Jack-o-lantern with its rounded eyes and gaping mouth revealing a few dregs of pumpkin seed in its throat…

'That's one heck of a face you've got there,' Sirius said, helping James up. 'What? Did you knock your head or something?'

'Maybe I did,' James muttered, staring at the Dementor-ish face, then at Snape who had, after his initial glance over, ignored the commotion, and then finally to Lily Evans, listening to Dorcas' animated commentary.

She suddenly spun around to meet his gaze, and he looked away. Her curious eyes seem to follow him, perhaps for the lack of a callous blush on his cheeks. But James was remembering a different face right then, a face that had looked like a pumpkin mask, like a dead woman working, like a Dementor ready to steal his soul away…

He wondered if that dream had tried to tell him something, then decided to push it out of his mind. He had to give credit where it was due, but really, that prank was weighing far too fiercely on his mind.

He avoided the pumpkin pie though, just in case.


End file.
